An appreciation of the Other doesn’t come naturally. Just think of the simultaneous wars against the American Indians and the North American wolves—genocides fueled, in part, by a fear of wildness. There is, however, another Other: the foreigner greeted with curiosity and joy. To strike out into the American wilderness is like traveling to a foreign nation without crossing a border. The wild comes with all the mystery of an undiscovered country. Its strangeness reminds me of a line from Thoreau: “What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own.” Like international travel, the trip home can involve a harsh dose of culture shock. Maybe, after days of good, clean Sierra Nevada air, you descend into the Central Valley’s miasma of diesel fumes and cow dung. Maybe, after a week in the wilds of Alaska, you run into some Prudhoe Bay roughnecks at the airport bar trading tips about making good cash in the oil fields. No matter where you’ve been, the incessant insistence of email reappears with a vengeance. And you wonder:
Was it all a dream?
Every adventure seems fleeting in hindsight, and the thrill of being in wild country is no exception. The excitement of wonder evaporates in the crush of routine. But the memories and the marks on your heart—those stay with you forever. Just like any travel, a foray into the wilderness delivers fresh perspective. You return to where you make your home, and you see the place with new eyes. The wild has equipped you with a kind of X-ray vision—you can see underneath the asphalt and concrete—as well as a sort of vicarious memory—you suddenly remember how the landscape once appeared. Even better, you can imagine how the land might look in the future, restored to life.

Have humans really tamed every inch of the world? On our overheated and overcrowded planet, are wild places now extinct?

Environmental journalist
Jason Mark
took to the most rugged areas of the US to find out. In, Mark proves that the mystery of the wild still exists today
—
and is more important than ever. Read an excerpt from Mark's travelsbelow:

The Department "Culture e Civiltà" of the University of Verona invites applications to THREE fully funded studentships for the Master's Course in
…
Linguistics (academic year 2018/19). Details regarding the Master’s program in Linguistics can be found at:
http://www.dtesis.univr.it/?ent=csid=697tcs=MAlang=en

Requirements: Eligible candidates are non-EU citizens: 1. who do not live in Italy; 2. who hold: a (foreign) Bachelor Degree in the field of Humanities or other field requiring a basic training in Linguistics; an English Certificate (B1 level as minimum, or equivalent). Funding: The total sum made available by the…
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